A circuit design is created with a target operating frequency in mind. The target operating frequency may be specified as a design constraint. During the design process, an estimate of the operating frequency of the circuit design may be determined and compared with the target operating frequency for the circuit design. In some cases, the estimated operating frequency of the circuit design may be increased by pipelining the circuit design. In other cases, however, pipelining may adversely affect the correctness of the circuit design.